Dual monitor cards

madmallard · Post by **madmallard** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:12 pm

its true the parhelia is not a gamer's card. but it is very much a quality piece of manufacturing.

Shop your needs. He didn't say he wanted a gaming card with dual monitors, he wanted a dual monitor car with SOME gaming functionality.

If your primary goal is dual monitors, you can't beat matrox. but if you want any gaming strength you do have to to goto the Parhelia, which is not cheap, and not the strongest for gaming . . .yet. . .

I dont know of any other graphics engine that offeres on the fly 10bit colour gamma correction for each individual display.

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 10:39 pm

Ashton wrote:I just want to get all of your suggestions: what video card do you think I should buy if I want one that has dual monitor support and still has some heft in the gaming arena, but isn't ungodly expensive?

Also cost plays a factor.

No one is dying and 40bit color has yet to prove as a MUST HAVE item.

$312 for something that has slightly superior 2D & multi-monitor support, which is not really needed. Along with crap 3D performance. Compared to a all around solution, such as a Radeon 9100 for $70.

The Radeon is the better value.

Parhelia seems to have been made just for flash with no real plan on how it would be marketed. It's mainly marketed to way high end graphics professionals who want "WOW!" factor.

NicholasDWolfwood · Post by **NicholasDWolfwood** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 12:11 pm

Yep, triple monitor support is shit for gaming. The Parhelia 128MB when it came out was $400. If I were Ashton, I'd get either a Radeon 9100/9000 Pro, or keep his current video card and get a cheap PCI card.

mckeed · Post by **mckeed** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 1:39 pm

geezz....i didn't think this would cause so much ruckus bringing up the matrox card. Yeah its not cost effective solution or great at gaming. I personally don't do much gaming myself I just figured i'd mention it. But having all the processing on one card helps with compatibility. I know when i ran seperate cards for dual I had all sorts of probolem gaming and would have to disable the second monitor every time i wanted to play something. I thought the surround gaming was a neat concept. I mean....get three 18" samsung thin bezel tft's end to end and you only end up with a pretty neat solution. I actually know a few ppl here at the research lab who have this setup. I know i am tired of my 21" taking up so much space on my desktop. Pain to transport as well. But obviously the easiest solution is a cheap pci card and get a good primary video card. But the key is in the drivers. I haven't been impressed with many dual head cards when it came to driver support.

madmallard · Post by **madmallard** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 11:37 am

eh. .i've got a g550 and dual 17"s.

Personally i have no need for a third monitor, and i don't like PC games, so any kind of 'gaming' card would have been useless and too #@!$#@ expensive. (okay, i play RCT and Civilization, but those are 2-d anyways)

but keep in mind alot of these dual monitor and tv out dual display thingies have been offered on Matrox cards since the 3dFX days. Nvidia and ati are johnny-come-lately.

matrox has released some newer cheaper triple head cards too. Not much gaming, but hey, three monitors, and less than buying a parhelia

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 11:54 pm

Video editing with Matrox h/w...
This setup is supported by the P750 and the Parhelia.

mckeed · Post by **mckeed** » Sun Jul 06, 2003 1:01 pm

That setup is similar to mine....a 21" primary 17" secondary and a TV output Except i use the g400 and rt2500 in conjunction.

Knowname · Post by **Knowname** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 2:22 pm

OK! enough with the Parhelia hateing!!! I'm no Parhelia fan, well... if I had $400 to waste than...

BUT among some pluses for parhelia (and all matrox cards in general... but beware, I have a g550 and with an 800mhz Celery it can't even do Q3 on one monitor at 1024x768x32...), a bit ago I read a semi-old review where they went into stuff that nobody bothers with like tv-out and how good these cards (at the intro of DDR, GF2, Radeon, G550 etc.) acturally were at <b>dual head</b> and the Matrox card was SOOO much better (and alternatively the ATI card was better at TV Out) the Nvidea card sucked at everything, I hate Nvidea, over hyped one-sided pos'. Also the parhelia is the only one that supports surround gaming... and FSAA16x or whatever. But like somebody said who really likes cpu gaming anyway??? lol (that argument acturally works for both sides) also my g550 doesn't work in my super7 so if you have an agp 1.0 mobo (bx) than.... anyway I'd go with ATI on this one. you can also (as your 2nd monitor) connect your tv to the card if you don't have an extra monitor.
/shattered thoughts
I just ignore Vash as he usually just repeats what Klinky said anyway

Knowname · Post by **Knowname** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 2:39 pm

ok I was acturally really bored and I found it
http://www.2cpu.com/Hardware/video_roundup/
(the most recent g550 review in existance me thinks... and this guy probly got all he could out of <b>his</b> card, it's not just some schtick from a 'pro')

madmallard · Post by **madmallard** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 6:02 pm

I dunno whats up with his g-550 review on dvd playback. He must have had system issues.

Me and quu swear by the flexibility and reliability of our g450 and 550s. Yes they're limited, but what they do, they kick everyones butt in.

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Dual monitor cards

Re: Dual monitor cards